Wetlands Project

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The community sponsors are making great progress on the wetland frame pilot projects. The 2014 planting season is over. With the help of student workers from LaGuardia Community College and volunteers from the North Brooklyn Boat Club, the community sponsors have installed and completing planting for 12 frames.

The Constructed Wetland Pilot Project proposed to install lightweight stainless steel wetland frames from the cement bulkheads that extend between the Pulaski Bridge and the mouth of Dutch Kills opposite the Whale Creek Nature Walk.

City Parks Foundation has contracted with Carter Craft, Outside New York, to serve as project manager and Sarah Durand, Associate Professor of Natural Science at LaGuardia Community College, to serve as wetland ecology expert for the wetland frame project.

Implementing the project requires three basic tasks before the wetland frames can be installed: (1) The wetland frames must be designed and constructed; (2) It must be determined what flora and fauna are best suited to be housed in the wetland frames; (3) An appropriate location for frame installation must be determined—this location must both serve as suitable habitat for the chosen wetland species while also ensuring that the wetland frames will be maintained over the long term.

Craft and Durand have made significant progress towards these goals. Durand worked with CLIMsystems in designing the wetland frames. After soliciting multiple bids, Hammersmith LLC fabricators were selected to construct the frames.

In recent months, Durand and Craft have been conducting experiments in the project area in order to determine what wetland plants are best suited for the frames. Through these experiments Durand is seeking to identify the ideal water level for the frame placement. Further experiments are in progress to determine whether the frames are suitable for housing mussels. Early results have been promising–the test buckets seem to be capable of providing suitable habitat for local wetland plants and mussels, while also serving as an attractor for other fauna in Newtown Creek.

LaGuardia Community College has agreed to maintain the frames for use as an experiential education site for LaGuardia Community College environmental science courses.